Dubai: Cristiano Ronaldo capped off a golden year, winning his fourth Player of the Year award at the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards in a glittering ceremony attended by a who’s who of international football at Madinat Jumeirah.
In a Real Madrid hat-trick, the team also collected the Club of the Year award, while coach Zinedine Zidane was named Coach of the Year.
Real Madrid and Portugal star Ronaldo triumphed over a stellar field which included his great rival, Argentine and Barcelona star Lionel Messi, and the man who is tipped as the heir apparent for the title of the world’s best player, Brazil and Paris St-Germain star Neymar.
The other nominees included legendary Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Buffon’s teammate and Argentina international Paulo Dybala, co-captain of Real Madrid and Spain international Sergio Ramos, and Neymar’s teammate at PSG, young superstar Kylian Mbappe.
Ronaldo was unable to attend the gala, but sent his message of thanks over a live video link.
In the second of their trifecta of victories, the coveted best Club of the Year Award was won by Real Madrid ahead of Manchester United and Monaco.
With Real Madrid taking Club of the Year, it was no real surprise then that the man who has steered them to so many titles would take out Coach of the Year.
Zinedine Zidane took his first Dubai Globe Soccer Awards title, having picked up the Fifa Best Men’s Coach Award in October. In his first two seasons as manager, Zidane won the Uefa Champions League title twice, a La Liga title, a Supercopa de Espana title, the Uefa Super Cup twice and Fifa Club World Cup twice.
Zidane was selected for the Award ahead of Chelsea’s Antonio Conte, Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho and Massimiliano Allegri of Juventus.
The Best Agent of the Year went to Jorge Mendes ahead of Mino Raiola and Alessandro Lucci. Mendes is among the most influential football agents in the world, with clients including Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea, Diego Costa, James Rodriguez, and Jose Mourinho, and has been named Best Agent of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards every year since 2010, with the exception of 2016 when he conceded the title to Mino Raiola. Mendes has again proven his ability on the football transfer market by engineering some of the most important transfers of the season.
The Award for Best referee of the Year was taken by German referee Felix Brych, ahead of Bakary Gassama, Cesar Arturo Ramos, Ravshan Irmatov and Sandro Ricci. Brych’s performances last season resulted in him being appointed to referee the Uefa Champions League final 2016/2017.
Diego Pablo Simeone received the Master Coach Special Award, in recognition of his remarkable results in guiding Atletico Madrid to winning La Liga and reaching two Champions League finals.
In the Player Career Award category, the honours were shared by Francesco Totti and Carles Puyol. Totti, who spent his career at Roma, is regarded as one of the greatest players Italy has produced, while former Barcelona captain and Spain international Puyol was one of the best defenders of his generation and winner of six La Liga trophies and three Champions League titles.
The Coach Career Award was presented to Marcello Lippi, the current manager of the China national team and is considered one the most successful managers in football history.
